Rain
by TeaBrew
Summary: Duo's always lived in poorer conditions during his life on L2 both during and after the wartimes, as a consequence he's never known about the simplest of weather conditions...rain. That is, until one day at the Preventer's HQ where Heero introduces it to


**Rain**

Duo massaged his temples and groaned softly. The whole incident with Mariemaia and the abrupt return and disappearance of the war meant that as a Preventer, more work was needed to be done. More precisely, the writing, organising and filing of several reports that Duo was in no way interested in. He closed his eyes and sighed, slumping forward on his desk.

*This job sucks…* he thought half-heartedly. A strange sound outside alerted his ears. *Huh? Whassat…? Sounds like someone's pouring gravel on the roof.*

He quickly stood up and moved over to the window of his twentieth storey block, peering out into the distance of the city. The further he looked the more things seemed to be disappearing in a cloak of pale grey, and it was moving slightly, shimmering almost, as if alive.

"What the…?" he whispered. "Why do the windows look like they're melting?" He stared out aimlessly for minutes, mesmerised by the strange sight.

Duo quickly turned on his heel and jogged to the elevator, jabbing at the down button. It arrived with a soft ding and he stepped inside and moved to the back, leaning up against the wall and rocking back and forth as he watched the numbers tick down. It reached the ground and he quickly scooted outside to be met with a humid cold as he stood under the awning.

"Damn! It's freezing out here!" he complained and pulled his jacket tighter to himself.

"You're just not used to cold humidity Duo." The braided boy whirled around. Heero.

He stood casually outside of the safety of the awning progressively getting more and more wet by the second. Duo blinked at him and looked upwards to the bright grey sky.

"What is…"

"It's rain, it happens all the time on Earth. The colonies can only poorly simulate weather patterns…" Heero explained. "Come on out. It won't bite you."

Duo faltered. "But…it's…" his eyes flicked to the sky again. "Does it hurt?"

Heero stared at him. "It's rain Duo. All it's comprised of is water falling back to earth in the form of droplets ready to be evaporated again and start the cycle over. Simple nature equation."

"So…it won't hurt?" Heero smirked at his expression.

"Try it."

Duo swallowed and took a step out; a few drops sprinkling onto his face and hands. He quickly darted back under the awning.

"It's cold!" he cried, wiping his face.

"It's not bath water Duo." He moved over next to Duo. "You come from a warm colony, L2 was one that missed out on total atmospheric control."

Duo blinked and looked over Heero. He stood next to him, soaked through to the bone by the rain and it didn't even phase him. Duo smirked to himself; he'd seen countless movies and documentaries with rain in them, he was never expecting it to be like this though. It was freezing!

He took a deep breath and stepped out quickly, bracing for the cold snap on his skin. He laughed and held his arms up.

"This is…incredible! Hah!" he spun around as if to prove his glee. "I'm not even cold anymore!"

Heero smirked. Duo would always be the big kid, wanting nothing else but to enjoy life. He sighed, wishing he could be more like that, not always expected to be the perfect soldier or brilliant pilot that he was. Heero Yuy. He just wanted to be himself, even for a few minutes. Go around and smile or joke, laugh in someone's face, pull a prank on someone, go to school and meet up with friends…

He just wanted to be free from the madness. No more killing, no more piloting, no more missions. Just a life where-

"Hey! Aw dammit, I'm soaked through!" Duo's voice broke through his thoughts as he came and stood next to him. He laughed again. "I love this! I've never seen – no, felt – anything like this before! It's fantastic!" Duo was grinning as he shook his head, spraying water everywhere and splattering Heero.

Heero smirked, stepping back out and stopping next to a puddle. He quickly raised his foot and stomped down, spraying Duo who cried out in protest. Heero chuckled as Duo shook himself down again and growled at the Japanese boy. He quickly joined him and planted his foot square into a different puddle, splashing poor Heero.

Heero laughed and the two went from puddle to puddle, splashing and spraying each other in the pouring rain for hours.

***

Quatre groaned as the rain fell down in a steady rhythm. As much as he would have loved to watch its soothing greys of calm, his headache reminded him that he had work to finish.

He sighed quietly as the rain continued. A sharp sound from outside his seventh storey office window called to his ears and he looked up quickly.

"What on earth…?" he mumbled as he stood and walked over to the window. He gazed down to the street and almost laughed.

Heero and Duo were laughing their heads off as the Japanese boy chased the other around in the pouring rain. Quatre had never seen Heero smile before – let alone laugh. He looked so happy, so carefree…

Duo, on the other hand, was soaked through and still laughing hard as the two returned to the cover of the awning. Quatre smiled and closed his eyes, softly shaking his head. Although he never admitted it, Heero probably saw Duo as his best friend throughout both wartimes, trusting him with his life even.

"It's good now…that we can all return to the normal lives we never knew during the war," Quatre whispered with a smile.

"Mister Winner? You have a call on line three," a woman said from behind him.

Quatre turned and smiled at her. "Thanks, I'll take it now."

He walked back to his chair, sitting down and picking up the phone with a smile, once again tuning out to the rain and the laughter of the two comrades down below.

****

The End


End file.
